For one side, recent Supreme Court cases have variously involved discrimination against gays, access to information on abortion, and adequate “financial support” for public sector unions. For the majority, though, these cases were all about one thing: freedom of conscience.

The plaintiffs after whom the cases were named, Mark Janus, the Masterpiece Cake Shop, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, weren’t seeking special treatment or extraordinary rights. They weren’t even seeking the right to do anything. All they wanted was the freedom not to be compelled into speech to which they objected morally. They were begging the state not to intrude into their conscience.